Wednesday, 29 April 2015

In Greek Mythology, Deianeira was described as the daughter ofOeneus, king of Calydon, and Althaea.

Deianeira

According to other version Deianeira was described as the daughter of Dionysus, the wine god. When Dionysus had come as a guest to Oeneus, he fell in love with Althaea. When Oeneus realized this, he voluntarily left the city and pretended to be performing sacred rites. Dionysus took the full advantage of Oeneus absence and had sex with Althaea.

Deianeira and Hercules

Deianira was Hercules's second wife. According to some versions, Deianeira was of such striking beauty that both Hercules and Achelous wanted to marry her and there was a contest to win her hand. Her father had already betrothed her to the fearsome river god Achelous, horned and bull-like. Deianira was not passive, however, and she wanted nothing to do with her suitor, who was able to take the form of a speckled serpent, a bull-headed man, or a bull. Hercules, had to defeat the river god to win her as his bride.

Deianeira and hercules

According to one version, Deianira was described as the daughter of Dexamenus, king of Olenus. Hercules had sexual intercourse with Deianira and promises to come back and marry her. While he was away, the centaur Eurytion appears, demanding her as his wife. Her father, being afraid, agrees. Hercules returns before the marriage and slays the centaur, claiming his bride.

Deianeira kidnapped by Nessus

Later a wild centaur named Nessus attempted to kidnap or rape Deianira as he was ferrying her across the river Euenos, but she was rescued by Hercules, who shot the centaur with a poisoned arrow. As he lay dying, Nessus persuaded Deianira to take a sample of his blood, telling her that a potion of it mixed with olive oil would ensure that Hercules would never again be unfaithful.

Deianira believed his words and kept a little of the potion by her. Hercules fathered illegitimate children all across Greece and then fell in love with Iole (daughter of Eurytus, king of the city Oechalia). When Deianira thus feared that her husband would leave her forever, she smeared some of the blood on Hercules' shirt. Hercules' servant, Lichas, brought him the shirt and he put it on.

Death of Hercules

The centaur's toxic blood burned Hercules terribly, and eventually, he threw himself into a funeral pyre. In despair, Deianira committed suicide by hanging herself or with a sword.Index

In Greek mythology, Amphissa was described as the daughter of daughter of Macareus and grand-daughter of Aeolus. In some version, Amphissa was the child conceived in the incestuous relationship between Macareus and his sister Canace. In other version,Amphissa was the child conceived by unknown consort of Macareus.

Amphissa

Apollo, the god of music, fall in love with Amphissa and seduced her in the disguise of a shepherd. Their son was Agreus, a King of Lord of Euboia.

In Greek mythology, Oeneus was described as was king of Pleuron and Calydon in Aetolia. Oeneus was the son of of Porthaon and Euryte, and brother of Agrius and Melas.

Oeneus....

Oeneus was married to Althaea by whom he became the father of Toxeus, Thyreus, Clymenus, and Meleager, and of two daughters, Gorge and Deianeira. According to other version, Deianeira was daughter of Dionysus, the wine god. When Dionysus had come as a guest to Oeneus, he fell in love with Althaea. Dionysus seduced Althaea with the full consent of her husband, Oeneus, who had received the gift of the vine (grape plant). Oeneus introduced wine-making to Aetolia, which he learned from Dionysus. In some version, Meleager was was described as the daughter of Ares, the god of war, as Althaea had an illicit sexual relationship with Ares.

Oeneus forgot to sacrifice the first fruits of his harvest to goddess Artemis

Once, Oeneus neglected to sacrifice the first fruits of his harvest to the powerful goddess Artemis, she sends a great wild boar to ravage the land. Heroes come from all over Greece to participate in the Calydonian boar hunt that ensues. The athletic heroine Atalanta wounds the boar, and Meleager finishes it off. There exist varying accounts of the ensuing events; in one, Meleager’s mother, Althaea, causes his death and then kills herself.

Oeneus’s second wife was Periboea (daughter of Hipponous), with whom he became father of Tydeus. In one version, Tydeus was described as the son of Oeneus by his own daughter, Gorge. Tydeus, was exiled for murder, and Oeneus was deposed by his own brother, Agrius.

Tydeus died on the expedition of the Seven Against Thebes, but his son Diomedes returned and restored Oeneus to the throne. Oeneus handed Calydon over to his son-in-law Andraemon, the husband of Gorge. Oeneus either died of natural causes or was killed by the surviving sons of Agrius who laid an ambush against him while Diomedes was transporting him to Peloponessus. He was buried in Argos by Diomedes, and a town was named Oenoe after him.Index

According to Greek mythology, when no cause can be discovered to events such as floods, droughts, frosts or even in politics, then the cause of these events may be fairly attributed to Tyche. In some versions,Tyche was described as one of the Moirai, and the most powerful of the sisters.

In Greek mythology, gold, repute, health, strength, beauty, and all other gifts of Fortune, need to be commanded by a man's intelligence. For through his intelligence, or in other version, his moral purpose, he becomes able to make good use of all gifts, without depending on them. And without intelligence, gold, repute, beauty, and other wonderful gifts of Tyche, may act like poison and destroy a man or a woman.
In some versions, Plutus, the god of wealth, was described as Tyche' son. Tyche appeared on many coins of the Hellenistic period, after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.

Monday, 27 April 2015

In Greek mythology, Moirai were the three goddess of fate (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropus), who personified the inescapable destiny of man.

Moirai

Clotho, means "spinner", spun the thread of life from her Distaff onto her Spindle, who was originally a goddess called upon in the ninth month of pregnancy. Lachesis, means "allotter", measured the thread of life allotted to each person with her measuring rod. Atropos, means "inexorable" or "inevitable", was the cutter of the thread of life. She chose the manner of each person's death; and when their time was come, she cut their life-thread with "her abhorred shears". Moirai were independent, at the helm of necessity, directed fate, and watched that the fate assigned to every being by eternal laws might take its course without obstruction. The gods and men had to submit to them. In some versions, Zeus was the only one who can command them. In other version, Zeus was also bound to the Moirai's dictates.

Friday, 24 April 2015

In Greek mythology, Meleager was described as the son of Oeneus, king of Calydon, and Althaea. According to some versions, Althaea had an illicit sexual relationship with Ares, god of war and Meleager was described as the son of Ares.

Meleager and Atalanta

When Meleager was born, the Moirai (Fates) predicted he would only live until a brand, burning in the family hearth, was consumed by fire. Overhearing them, Althaea immediately doused and hid the brand .

Birth of Meleager

Meleager married Cleopatra, daughter of Idas and Marpessa, and had a daughter, Polydora. Meleager was one of the Argonauts. Meleager's father, Oeneus, while sacrificing the first fruits of the annual crops of the country to all the gods, had forgotten goddess Artemis. To punish his negligence, the goddess sent a boar of extraordinary size and strength that prevented the land from being sown, and destroyed both cattle and people. To get rid of the nuisance, King Oeneus assembled the noblest men, and promising to give the Boar's skin as a prize to him who should kill the beast.

Calydonian Boar hunt.....

(see Calydonian Boar....the hunt) The Calydonian hunters then, led by Meleager, hunted the boar, which was shot first by Atalanta. After her, Amphiaraus shot it in the eye, and then Meleager finished it by a stab in the flank. However, on receiving the skin as prize, Meleager, being in love with Atalanta, gave it to the huntress.

Meleager and Atalanta

But the sons of Thestius who took part in the hunt representing the Curetes (an Aetolian people) did not approve of Meleager's gallant gesture because, in their view, a woman should not get a prize in the face of men. So, they reasoned, if Meleager did not take the skin, it belonged to them by right of birth. Meleager, however, was not in a disposition of accepting instructions regarding what he should do with the prize he had won, and in the course of the dispute that ensued he slew the sons of Thestius, giving the skin to Atalanta.

Meleager giving the boar skin to Atalanta

Unfortunately, these "sons of Thestius" were Meleager's uncles, and his own mother's brothers, herself being a daughter of the same Thestius. And having heard of her brothers' death, Althaea was possessed by such a grief that she caused his own son to die by taking the brand out of the chest, kindle it, and let it be totally consumed by the flames.

Death of Meleager

Meleager wife Cleopatra and his mother, Althaea, hanged themselves after the death of Meleager. According to some versions, Meleager sisters Eurymede and Melanippe grieved so much the death of their brother that they were turned into birds by Artemis. In one (rare) versions, When Hercules came to underworld to to fetch the hound Cerberus, he met Meleager. Following Meleager's advice that Hercules came to Calydon and married Meleager's sister Deianira.Index

In Greek mythology, Althaea was described as the daughter of the Aetolian king Thestius and Eurythemis, and sister of Leda, Hypermnestra, Iphiclus, and Euippus. Althaea was married to Oeneus, king of Calydon, by whom she became the mother of Toxeus, Thyreus, Clymenus, and Meleager, and of two daughters, Gorge and Deianeira.

Althaea

According to some versions, Althaea was mother of Deianeira by Dionysus, god of wine. When Dionysus had come as a guest to Oeneus, he fell in love with Althaea. When Oeneus realized this, he voluntarily left the city and pretended to be performing sacred rites. Dionysus took the full advantage of Oeneus absence and had sex with Althaea. To Oeneus, because of his generous hospitality, Dionysus gave the vine (grape plant) as a gift, and showed him how to plant it, and decreed that its fruit should be called ‘oinus’ from the name of his host. According to some versions, Althaea had an illicit sexual relationship with Ares, god of war. Althaea became mother of Meleager by Ares.

Birth of Meleager........

When Meleager was born, the Fates appeared in the palace, saying that Meleager would die as soon as the last piece of wood in the hearth was consumed. Upon hearing it, Althaea removed that brand and buried it under the palace. Many years later, Oeneus sacrificed the first fruits of the seasons to all the gods, omitting goddess Artemis by mistake. Enraged by the slight, Artemis sent an unnaturally large boar to ravage the Calydonian lands (see Calydonian Boar..............The hunt).

Atalanta and Meleager.....Calydonian Boar hunt......

Meleager managed to kill the boar with the help of Atalanta and his mother’s brothers, but gave the skin of the boar as a prize to Atalanta. His uncles were angry and stole it from her, which caused Meleager’s fury and killed them. When Althaea found out, she burned the brand that was kept under the palace, causing her son’s death. After that Althaea hung herself or killed herself with a dagger.INDEX

Wednesday, 22 April 2015

In a certain city there lived a king and with three notably beautiful daughters. The two elder ones were very attractive, yet praise appropriate to humans was thought sufficient for their fame. But the beauty of the youngest girl, Psyche, was so special and distinguished that our poverty of human language could not describe or even adequately praise it. In consequence, many of her fellow-citizens and hordes of foreigners, on hearing the report of this matchless prodigy, gathered in ecstatic crowds. They were dumbstruck with admiration at her peerless beauty. They would press their hands to their lips with the forefinger resting on the upright thumb, and revere her with devoted worship as if she were none other than Aphrodite herself.

Rumor had already spread through the nearest cities and bordering territories that the goddess who was sprung from the dark-blue depths of the sea and was nurtured by the foam from the frothing waves was now bestowing the favor of her divinity among random gatherings of common folk or at any rate, that the earth rather than the sea was newly impregnated by heavenly seed, and had sprouted forth a second Aphrodite invested with the bloom of virginity.

Psyche....

This belief grew every day beyond measure. The story now became widespread; it swept through the neighboring islands, through tracts of the mainland and numerous provinces. Many made long overland journeys and traveled over the deepest courses of the sea as they flocked to set eyes on this famed cynosure of their age. No one took ship for Paphus (an ancient city in Cyprus), Cnidus (an ancient settlement located in south-western Asia Minor), or even Cythera (an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula) to catch sight of the goddess Aphrodite. Sacrifices in those places were postponed, shrines grew unsightly, couches become threadbare, rites went unperformed; the statues were not garlanded, and the altars were bare and grimy with cold ashes. It was the girl who was entreated in prayer. People gazed on that girl's human countenance when appeasing the divine will of the mighty goddess. When the maiden emerged in the mornings, they sought from her the favor of the absent Aphrodite with sacrificial victims and sacred feasts. The people crowded round her with wreaths and flowers to address their prayers, as she made her way through the streets. Since divine honors were being diverted in this excessive way to the worship of a mortal girl, the anger of the true Aphrodite was fiercely kindled. She could not control her irritation. She tossed her head, let out a deep growl, and spoke in soliloquy:"Here am I, the ancient mother of the universe, the founding creator of the elements, the Aphrodite that tends the entire world, compelled to share the glory of my majesty with a mortal maiden, so that my name which has its niche in heaven is degraded by the foulness of the earth below! Am I then to share with another the supplications to my divine power, am I to endure vague adoration by proxy, allowing a mortal girl to strut around posing as my double? What a waste of effort it was for the shepherd (Paris) [see the Judgement of Paris] whose justice and honesty won the approval of great Zeus to reckon my matchless beauty superior to that of those great goddesses! But this girl, whoever she is, is not going to enjoy appropriating the honors that are mine. I shall soon ensure that she rues the beauty which is not hers by rights!"

Aphrodite and Eros

Aphroditeat once summoned her son, Eros, that winged, most indiscreet youth, whose own bad habits show his disregard for public morality. He goes rampaging through people's houses at night armed with his torch and arrows, undermining the marriages of all. He gets away punishment with this disgraceful behavior,and nothing that he does is worthwhile. His own nature made him excessively wanton, but he was further roused by his mother's words. She took him along to that city, and showed him Psyche in the flesh. Aphrodite told Eros the whole story of their rivalry in beauty, and grumbling and growling with displeasure added:"I beg you by the bond of a mother's affection, by the sweet wounds which your darts inflict and the honeyed blisters left by this torch of yours: ensure that your mother gets her full revenge, and punish harshly this girl's arrogant beauty. Be willing to perform this single service which will compensate for all that has gone before. See that the girl is seized with consuming passion for the lowest possible specimen of humanity, for one who as the victim of Fortune has lost status, inheritance and security, a man so disreputable that nowhere in the world can he find an equal in wretchedness." With these words she kissed her son long and hungrily with parted lips. Then she made for the nearest shore lapped by the waves. Meanwhile, Psyche for all her striking beauty gained no reward for her ravishing looks. She was the object of all eyes, and her praise was on everyone's lips, but no king or prince or even commoner courted her to seek her hand. All admired her godlike appearance, but the admiration was such as is accorded to an exquisitely carved statue. For some time now her two elder sisters had been betrothed to royal suitors and had contracted splendid marriages, though their more modest beauty had won no widespread acclaim. But Psyche remained at home unattended, lamenting her isolated loneliness. Sick in body and wounded at heart, she loathed her beauty which the whole world admired. For this reason the father of that ill-starred girl was a picture of misery, for he suspected that the gods were hostile, and he feared their anger. He sought the advice of the most ancient oracle of the Apollo, and with prayers and sacrificial victims begged from that mighty deity a marriage and a husband for that slighted maiden. The response of oracle was: "Adorn this girl, O king, for wedlock dread, and set her on a lofty mountain-rock. Renounce all hope that one of mortal stock can be your son-in-law, for she shall wed a fierce, barbaric, snake-like monster. He, flitting on wings aloft, makes all things smart, plaguing each moving thing with torch and dart. Why, Zeus himself must fearful be. The other gods for him their terror show, and rivers shudder, and the dark realms below." The king had formerly enjoyed a happy life, but on hearing this venerable prophecy he returned him reluctant and mournful. He unfolded to his wife the injunctions of that ominous oracle, and grief, tears and lamentation prevailed for several days. But now the grim fulfillment of the dread oracle loomed over them. Now they laid out the trapping for the marriage of that ill-starred girl with death; now the flames of the nuptial torch flickered dimly beneath the sooty ashes, the high note of the wedding-lute sank into the plaintive Lydian mode, and the joyous marriage-hymn tailed away into mournful wailing. That bride-to-be dried her tears on her very bridal-veil. Lamentation for the harsh fate of that anguished household spread throughout the city, and a cessation of business was announced which reflected the public grief. But the warnings of heaven were to be obeyed, and unhappy Psyche's presence was demanded for her appointed punishment. So intense grief the ritual of that marriage with death was solemnized, and the entire populace escorted her living corpse as Psyche tearfully attended not her marriage but her funeral. But when her sad parents, prostrated by their monstrous misfortune, drew back from the performance of their monstrous task, their daughter herself admonished them with these words : "Why do you rack you sad old age with protracted weeping? Or why do you weary your life's breath, which is dearer to me than to yourselves, with repeated lamentations? Why do you disfigure those features, which I adore, with ineffectual tears? Why do you grieve my eyes by torturing your own? Why do you tear at your grey locks? Why do you beat those breasts so sacred to me? What fine rewards my peerless beauty will bring you! All too late you experience the mortal wounds inflicted by impious envy. That grief, those tears, that lamentations for me as one already lost should have been awakened when nations and communities brought me fame with divine honors, when with one voice they greeted me as the new Aphrodite. Only now do I realize and see that my one undoing has been the title of Aphrodite bestowed on me. Escort me and set me on the rock to which fate has consigned me. I hasten to behold this noble husband of mine. Why should I postpone or shrink from the arrival of the person born for the destruction of the whole world?" After this utterance the maiden fell silent, and with resolute step she now attached herself to the escorting procession of citizens. They made their way to the appointed rock set on a lofty mountain, and when they had installed the girl on its peak, they all abandoned her there. They left behind the marriage-torches which had lighted their way but were now doused with their tears, and with bent heads made their way homeward. The girl's unhappy parents, worn out by this signal calamity, enclosed themselves in the gloom of their shuttered house, and surrendered themselves to a life of perpetual darkness.But as Psyche wept in fear and trembling on that rocky eminence, Zephyrus' (the West Wind's) kindly breeze with its soft stirring wafted the hem of her dress this way and that, and made its folds billow out.

Psyche and Zephyrus

He gradually drew her aloft, and with tranquil breath bore her slowly downward. She glided down in the bosom of the flower-decked turf in the valley below. In that soft and grassy arbor Psyche reclined gratefully on the couch of the dew-laden turf. The great upheaval oppressing her mind had subsided, and she enjoyed pleasant repose. After sleeping long enough to feel refreshed, she got up with carefree heart. Before her eyes was a grove planed with towering, spreading trees, and a rill glistening with glassy waters. At the center of the grove and close to the gliding stream was a royal palace, the work not of human hands but of divine craftsmanship. You would know as soon as you entered that you were viewing the birth and attractive retreat of some god. The high ceiling, artistically paneled with citron-wood and ivory, was supported on golden columns. The entire walls were worked in silver in relief; beasts and wild cattle met the gaze of those who entered there. The one who shaped all this silver into animal-forms was certainly a genius, or rather he must have been a demigod or even a god. The floors too extended with different pictures formed by mosaics of precious stones, twice blessed indeed, and more than twice blessed are those whose feet walk on gems and jewels! The other areas of the dwelling too, in all its length and breadth, were incalculably costly. All the walls shimmered with their native gleam of solid gold, so that if the sun refused to shine, the house created its own daylight. The rooms, the colonnade, the very doors also shone brilliantly. The other riches likewise reflected the splendor of the mansion. You would be justified in thinking that this was a heavenly palace fashioned for mighty Zeus when he was engaged in dealings with men.

Psyche, enticed by the charming appearance of these surroundings, drew nearer, and as her assurance grew she crossed the threshold. Delight at the surpassing beauty of the scene encouraged her to examine every detail. Her eyes lit upon store-rooms built high on the other side of the house; they were crammed with abundance of treasures. Nothing imaginable was missing, and what was especially startling, apart from the breath-taking abundance of such riches, was the fact that this treasure-house had no protection whatever by way of chain or bar or guard.As she gazed on all this with the greatest rapture, a disembodied voice addressed her:"Why, may lady, do you gaze open-mouthed at this parade of wealth? All these things are yours. So retire to your room, relieve your weariness on your bed, and take a bath at your leisure. The voices you hear are those of your handmaidens, and we will diligently attend to your needs. Once you have completed your toilet a royal feast will at once be laid before you."Psyche felt a blessed assurance being bestowed upon hereby heaven's provision. She heeded the suggestions of the disembodied voice, and after taking a nap and then a bath to dispel her fatigue, she at once noted a semicircular couch and table close at hand. The dishes laid for dinner gave her to understand that all was set for her refreshment, so she gladly reclined there. Immediately wine was delicious as nectar and various plates of food were placed before her, brought not by human hands but unsupported on a gust of wind. She could see no living soul, and merely heard words emerging from thin air. Her serving-maids were merely voices. When she had enjoyed the rich feast, a singer entered and performed unseen, while another musician strummed a lyre which was likewise invisible. Then the harmonious voices of a tuneful choir struck her ears, so that it was clear that a choral group was in attendance, though no person could be seen.The pleasant entertainment came to an end, and the advent of darkness induced Psyche to retire to bed. When the night was well advanced, a genial sound met her ears. Since the was utterly alone, she trembled and shuddered in her fear for her virginity, and she dreaded the unknown presence more than any other menace. But now her unknown bridegroom arrived and climbed into the bed. He made Psyche his wife, and swiftly departed before dawn broke. At once the voices in attendance at her bed-chamber tended the new bride's violated virginity. These visits continued over a long period and this new life in the course of nature became delightful to Psyche as she grew accustomed to it. Hearing that unidentified voice consoled her loneliness.Meanwhile her parents were aging in unceasing grief and melancholy. As the news spread wider, her elder sisters learnt the whole story. In their sadness and grief they vied with each other in hastily leaving home and making straight for their parents, to see them and discuss the matter with them.That night Psyche's husband (he was invisible to her, but she could touch and hear him) said to her: "Sweetest Psyche, fond wife that you are, Fortune grows more savage, and threatens you with mortal danger. I charge you: show greater circumspection. Your sisters are worried at the rumor that you are dead, and presently they will come to this rock to search for traces of you. Should you chance to hear their cries of grief, you are not to respond, or even to set eyes on them. Otherwise you will cause me the most painful affliction, and bring utter destruction on yourself."Psyche consented and promised to follow her husband's guidance. But when he had vanished in company with the darkness, the poor girl spent the whole day crying and beating her breast. She kept repeating that now all was up with her, for here she was confined and enclosed in that blessed prison, bereft of conversation with human beings for company, unable even to offer consoling relief to her sisters as they grieved for her, and not allowed even to catch a glimpse of them. No ablutions, food, or other relaxation made her feel better, and she retired to sleep in floods of tears.At that moment her husband came to bed somewhat earlier than usual. She was still weeping, and as he embraced her, he remonstrated with her: "Is this how the promise you made me has turned out, Psyche, my dear? What is your husband to expect or to hope from you? You never stop torturing your self night and day, even when we embrace each other as husband and wife. Very well, have it your own way, follow your own hell-bound inclination. But when you begin to repent at leisure, remember the sober warning which I gave you."Then Psyche with prayers and threats of her impending death forced her husband to yield to her longing to see her sisters, to relieve their grief, and he also allowed her to present them with whatever pieces of gold or jewelry she chose. But he kept deterring her with repeated warnings from being ever induced by the baleful prompting of her sisters to discover her husband's appearance. She must not through sacrilegious curiosity tumble headlong from the lofty height of her happy fortune, and forfeit thereafter his embrace.She thanked her husband, and with spirits soaring she said: "But I would rather die a hundred times than forgo the supreme joy of my marriage with you. For I love and cherish you passionately, whoever you are, as much as my own life, and I value you higher than Eros himself. But one further concession I beg for my prayers, bid your servant Zephyrus (the West Wind) spirit my sisters down to me, as he earlier wafted me down."Psyche pressed seductive kisses on him, whispered honeyed words, and snuggled close to soften him. She added endearments to her charms: "O my honey-sweet, darling husband, light of your Psyche's life!" Her husband unwillingly gave way before the forceful pressure of these impassioned whispers, and promised to do all she asked. Then, as dawn drew near, he vanished from his wife's embrace.Psyche's sisters inquired about the location of the rock on which she had been abandoned, and they quickly made their way to it. There they cried their eyes out and beat their breasts until the rocks and crags echoed equally loudly with their repeating lamentations. Then they sought to conjure up their sister by summoning her by name, until the piercing notes of their wailing voices permeated down the mountainside, and Psyche rushed frantically and fearfully from the house. "Why," she asked, "do you torture yourselves to no purpose with your unhappy cries of grief? Here I am, the object of your mourning. So cease your doleful cries, and now at last dry those cheeks which are wet with prolonged tears, for you can now hug close the sister for whom you grieved."Psyche then summoned Zephyrus, and reminded him of her husband's instruction. He speedily obeyed the command, and at once whisked them down safely on the gentlest of breezes. The sisters embraced each other, and delightedly exchanged eager kisses. The tears which had been dried welled forth again, prompted by their joy. "Now that you are in good spirits", said Psyche, "you must enter my hearth and home, and let the company of your Psyche gladden your hearts that were troubled."

Psyche and her sisters

Following these words, Psyche showed them the magnificent riches of the golden house, and let them hear the voices of her large retinue. She then allowed them the rich pleasure of a luxurious bath and an elegant meal served by her ghostly maids. But when they had had their fill of the copious abundance of riches clearly bestowed by heaven, they began to harbor deep-seated envy in their hearts. So one of them kept asking with nagging curiosity about the owner of those divine possessions, about the identity and status of her husband. Psyche in her heart's depths did not in any way disobey or disregard her husband's instructions. She invented an impromptu story that he was a handsome young man whose cheeks were just darkening with a soft beard, and who spent most of his day hunting in the hills of the countryside. But she was anxious not to betray through a slip of the tongue her silent resolve by continuing the conversation, so she weighed her sisters down with gold artifacts and precious jewels, hastily summoned Zephyrus, and entrusted them to him for the return journey.This was carried out at once, and those splendid sisters then made their way home. They were now gnawed with the bile of growing envy, and repeatedly exchanged loud-voiced complaints. One of them began: "Fortune, how blind and harsh and unjust you are! Was it your pleasure that we, daughters of the same parents, should endure so different a fate? Here we are, her elder sisters, nothing better than maidservants to foreign husbands, banished form home and even from our native land, living like exiles far from our parents, while Psyche, the youngest and last offspring of our mother's weary womb, has obtained all this wealth, and a god for a husband! She has not even a notion of how to enjoy such abundant blessings. Did you notice, sister, the quantity and quality of the precious stones lying in the house, the gleaming garments, the sparkling jewels, the gold lying beneath our feet and all over the house? If she has as handsome a husband as she claims, no woman living in the whole world is more blessed. Perhaps as their intimacy continues and their love grows stronger, her god-husband will make her divine as well. That's how things are, mark my words; she was putting on such airs and graces! She's now so high and mighty, behaving like a goddess, with those voices serving her needs, and Winds obeying her commands! Whereas my life's a hell; to begin with, I have a husband older than my father. He's balder than an onion as well, and he hasn't the virility of an infant. And he keeps our house barricaded with bards and chains." The other took up the grumbling. "I have to put up with a husband crippled and bent with rheumatism, so that he can succumb to my charms only once in a blue moon. I spent almost all my day rubbing his fingers, which are twisted and hard as flint, and burning these soft hands of mine on reeking poultices, filthy bandages, and smelly plasters. I'm a slaving nursing attendant, not a dutiful wife. You must decide for yourself, sister, how patiently or--let me express myself frankly--how menially you intent to bear the situation; I can't brook any longer the thought of this undeserving girl falling on her feet like this. Just recall how disdainfully and haughtily she treated us, how swollen-headed she'd become with her boasting and her immodest vulgar display, how she reluctantly threw at us a few trinkets from that mass of riches, and then at once ordered us to be thrown out, whisked away, sent off with the Wind because she found our presence tedious! As sure as I'm a woman, as sure as I'm standing here, I'm going to propel her headlong off that heap of riches! If the insulting way she's treated us has needled you as well, as it certainly should have, we must work out an effective plan together. We must not show the gifts in our possession to our parents or anyone else. We must not even betray the slightest awareness that she's alive. It's bad enough that we've witnessed the sorry situation ourselves, without our having to spread the glad news to our parents and the whole world at large. People aren't really fortunate if no one knows of their riches. She'll realize that she's got elder sisters, not maid-servants. So let us now go back to our husbands and homes, which may be poor but are honest. Then, when we have given the matter deeper thought, we must go back more determined to punish her arrogance." The two wicked sisters approved this wicked plan. So they hid away all those most valuable gifts. They tore their hair, gave their cheeks the scratching they deserved, and feigned renewed grief. Their hastily summoned tears depressed their parents, reawakening their sorrow to match that of their daughters, and then swollen with lunatic rage they rushed of to their homes, planning their wicked wiles or rather the assassination of their innocent sister.Meanwhile Psyche's unknown husband in their nightly conversation again counselled her with these words: "Are you aware what immense danger overhangs you? Fortune is aiming her darts at you from long range and, unless you take the most stringent precautions, she will soon engage with you hand to hand. Those traitorous bitches are straining every nerve to lay wicked traps for you. Above all, they are seeking to persuade you to pry into my appearance, and as I have often warned you, a single glimpse of it will be your last. So if those depraved witches turn up later, ready with their destructive designs, and I am sure they will, you must not exchange a single word with them, or at any rate if your native innocence and soft-heartedness cannot bear that, you are not to listen to or utter a single word about your husband. Soon we shall be starting a family, for this as yet tiny womb of yours is carrying for us another child like yourself. If you conceal our secret in silence, that child will be a god, but if you disclose it, he will be mortal."Psychewas aglow with delight at the news. She gloried in the comforting prospect of a divine child, she exulted in the fame that such a dear one would bring her, she rejoiced at the thought of the respected status of mother. She eagerly counted the mounting days and departing months, and as a novice bearing an unknown burden, she marveled that the pinprick of a moment could cause such a lovely swelling in her fecund womb.But now those baneful, most Furies were hastening on their impious way abroad ship, exhaling their snakelike poison. It was then that Psyche's husband on his brief visit again warned her: "This is the day of crisis, the moment of worst hazard. Those troublesome members of your sex, those hostile blood-relations of yours have now seized their arms, struck camp, drawn their battle-line, and sounded the trumpet-note. Your impious sisters have drawn their swords, and are aiming at your jugular. The calamities that oppress us are indeed direful, dearest Psyche. Take pity on yourself and on me, show dutiful self-control to deliver your house and your husband, your person and this tiny child of ours from the unhappy disaster that looms over us. Do not set eyes on, or open your ears to, these female criminals, whom you cannot call your sisters because of their deadly hatred, and because of the way in which they have trodden underfoot their own flesh and blood, when like Sireni they lean out over the crag, and make the rocks resound with the death-dealing cries!"Psyche's response was muffled with tearful sobs. "Some time ago, I think, you had proof of my trustworthiness and discretion, and on this occasion too my resolution will likewise win your approval. Only tell our Zephyrus to provide his services again, and allow me at least a glimpse of my sisters as consolation for your unwillingness to let me gaze on your sacred face. I beg you by these locks of yours which with their scent of cinnamon dangle all round your head, by your cheeks as soft and smooth as my own, by your breast which diffuses its hidden heat, as I hope to observe your features as reflected at least in this our tiny child, accede to the devoted prayers of this careworn suppliant, and grant me the blessing of my sisters' embraces. Then you will give fresh life and joy to your Psyche, your own devoted and dedicated dear one. I no longer seek to see your face; the very darkness of the night is not oppressive to me, for you are my light to which I cling."Her husband was bewitched with these words and soft embraces. He wiped away her tears with his curls, promised to do her bidding, and at once departed before dawn broke.The conspiratorial pair of sisters did not even call on their parents. At breakneck speed they made straight from the ships to the familiar rock, and without waiting for the presence of the wafting wind, launched themselves down with impudent rashness into the depths below. Zephyrus, somewhat unwillingly recalling his king's command, enfolded them in the bosom of his favoring breeze and set them down on solid earth. Without hesitation they at once marched with measured step into the house, and counterfeiting the name of sisters they embraced their prey. With joyful expressions they cloaked he deeply hidden deceit which they treasured within them, and flattered their sister with these words: "Psyche, you are no longer the little girl, you are now a mother. Just imagine what a blessing you bear in that purse of yours! What pleasures you will bring to our whole family! How lucky we are at the prospect of rearing this prince of infants! If he is as handsome as his parents--and why not?--he is sure to be a thorough Eros!" With this pretense of affection they gradually wormed their way into their sister's heart. As soon as they had rested their feet to recover from the weariness of the journey, and had steeped their bodies in a steaming bath, Psycheserved them in the dining-room with a most handsome and delightful meal of meats and savories. She ordered a lyre to play, and string-music came forth. she ordered pipes to start up, and their notes were heard. She bade choirs to sing, and they duly did. All this music soothed their spirits with the sweetest tunes as they listened, though no human person stood before them. But those baleful sisters were not softened or lulled even by that music so honey-sweet. They guided the conversation towards the deceitful snare which they had laid, and they began to inquire innocently about the status, family background, and walk of life of her husband. Then Psyche's excessive naivety made her forget her earlier version, and she concocted a fresh story. She said that her husband was a business-man from an adjoining region, and that he was middle-aged, with streaks of grey in his hair. But she did not linger a moment longer in such talk, but again loaded her sisters with rich gifts, and ushered them back to their carriage of the wind.But as they returned home, after Zephyrus with his serene breath had borne them aloft, they exchanged abusive comments about Psyche. "There are no words, sister, to describe the outrageous lie of that idiotic girl. Previously her husband was a young fellow whose beard was beginning to sprout with woolly growth, but now he's in middle wage with spruce and shining grey hair. What a prodigy he must be! This short interval has brought on old age abruptly, and has changed his appearance! You can be sure, sister, that this noxious female is either telling a pack of lies or does not know what her husband is like. Whatever the truth of the matter, she must be parted from those riches of hers without delay. If she does not know what her husband looks like, she must certainly be married to a god, and its is a god she's got for us in that womb of hers. Be sure of this, that if she becomes a celebrity as the mother of a divine child--which God forbid--I'll put a rope round my neck and hang myself. For the moment, then, let us go back to our parents and spin a fairy story to match the one we concocted a first." In this impassioned state they greeted their parents disdainfully, and after a restless night those despicable sisters sped to the rock at break of day. They threw themselves down through the air, and the Wind afforded them his usual protection. They squeezed their eyelids to force out some tears, and greeted the girl with these guileful words: "While you sit here, content and in happy ignorance of your grim situation, giving no thought to your danger, we in our watchful zeal for your welfare lie awake at night, racked with sadness for your misfortunes. We know for a fact and as we share your painful plight we cannot hide it from you that a monstrous Dragon lies unseen with you at night. It creeps along with its numerous knotted coils, its neck is blood-stained, and oozes deadly poison, its monstrous jaws lie gaping open. You must surely remember the Pythian oracle, and its chant that you were doomed to wed a wild beast. Then, too, many farms, local huntsmen, and a number of inhabitants have seen the Dragon returning to its lair at night after seeking its food, or swimming in the shallows of a river close by.All of them maintain that the beast will not continue to fatten you for long by providing you with enticing food, and that as soon as your womb has filled out and your pregnancy comes to term, it will devour the richer fare which you will then offer. In view of this, you must now decide whether you ware willing to side with your sisters, who are anxious for your welfare which is so dear to their hearts, and to live in their company once you escape from death, or whether you prefer to be interred in the stomach of that fiercest of beasts. However, if you opt for the isolation of this rustic haunt inhabited only by voices, preferring the foul and hazardous intimacy of furtive love in the embrace of this venomous Dragon, at any rate we as your devoted sisters will have done our duty."Poor Psyche, simple and innocent as she was, at once felt apprehension at these grim tidings. She lost her head, and completely banished her recollection of all her husband's warnings and her own promises. She launched herself into the abyss of disaster. Trembling and pale as the blood drained from her face, she barely opened her mouth as she gasped and stammered out this reply to them."Dearest sisters, you have acted rightly in continuing to observe your devoted duty, and as for those who make these assertions to you, I do not think that they are telling lies. It is true that I have never seen my husband's face, and I have no knowledge whatsoever of where he hails form. I merely attend at night to the words of a husband to whom I submit with no knowledge of what he is like, for he certainly shuns the light of day. Your judgement is just that he is some beast, and I rightly agree with you. He constantly and emphatically warns me against seeing what he looks like, and threatens me with great disaster if I show curiosity about his features. So if at this moment you can offer saving help to your sister in her hour of danger, you must come to my rescue now. Otherwise your indifference to the future will tarnish the benefits of your previous concern."Those female criminals had now made their way through the open gates, and had occupied the mind of their sister thus exposed. They emerged from beneath the mantlet of their battering-ram, drew their swords, and advanced on the terrified thoughts of that simple girl. So it was that one of them said to her: "Our family ties compel us, in the interests of your safety, to disregard any danger whatsoever which lies before us, so we shall inform you of the one way by which you will attain the safety which has exercised us for so long. You must whet a razor by running it over your softened palm, and when it is quite sharp hide it secretly by the bed where you usually lie. Then fill a well-trimmed lamp with oil, and when it is shining brightly, conceal it beneath the cover of an enclosing jar. Once you have purposefully secreted this equipment, you must wait until your husband ploughs his furrow, and enters and climbs as usual into bed. Then, when he has stretched out and sleep has begun to oppress and enfold him, as soon as he starts the steady breathing which denotes deep sleep, you must slip off the couch. In your bare feet and on tiptoe take mincing steps forward, and remove the lamp from its protective cover of darkness. Then take your cue from the lamp, and seize the moment to perform your own shining deed. Grasp the two-edged weapon boldly, first raise high your right hand, and then with all the force you can muster sever the knot which joins the neck and head of that venomous serpent. You will not act without our help, for we shall be hovering anxiously in attendance, and as soon as you have ensured your safety by his death, we shall fly to your side. All these riches here we shall bear off with you with all speed, and then we shall arrange an enviable marriage for you, human being with human being." Their sister was already quite feverish with agitation, but these fiery words set her heart ablaze. At once they left her, for their proximity to this most wicked crime made them fear greatly for themselves. So the customary thrust of the winged Breeze bore them up to the rock, and they at once fled in precipitate haste. Without delay they embarked on their ships and cast off.But Psyche, now left alone, except that being harried by the hostile Furies was no solitude, tossed in her grief like the waves of the sea. Though her plan was formed and her determination fixed, she still faltered in uncertainty of purpose as she set her hands to action, and was torn between the many impulses of her unhappy plight. She made haste, she temperized, her daring turned more to fear, her diffidence to anger, and to cap everything she loathed the beast but loved the husband, though they were one and the same. But now evening brought on darkness, so with headlong haste she prepared the instruments for the heinous crime. Night fell, and her husband arrived, and having first skirmished in the warfare of love, he fell in to a heavy sleep.

Then Psyche, though enfeebled in both body and mind, gained the strength lent her by fate's harsh decree. She uncovered the lamp, seized the razor, and showed a boldness that belied her sex. But as soon as the lamp was brought near, and the secrets of the couch were revealed, she beheld of all beasts the gentlest and sweetest, Eros himself, a handsome god lying in a handsome posture. Even the lamplight was cheered and brightened on sighting him, and the razor felt suitable abashed at its sacrilegious sharpness. As for Psyche, she was awe-struck at this wonderful vision, and she lost all her self-control. She swooned and paled with enervation, her knees buckled, and she sought to hide the steel by plunging it into her own breast. Indeed, she would have perpetrated this, but the steel showed its fear of committing so serious a crime by plunging out of her rash grasp. But as in her weariness and giddiness she gazed repeatedly on the beauty of that divine countenance, her mental balance was restored. She beheld on his golden head his luxuriant hair steeped in ambrosia, his neatly pinned ringlets strayed over his milk-white neck and rosy cheeks, some dangling in front and some behind, and their surpassing sheen made even the lamplight flicker. On the winged god's shoulders his dewy wings gleamed white with flashing brilliance, though they lay motionless, the soft and fragile feathers at their tips fluttered in quivering motion and sported restlessly. The rest of his body, hairless and rosy, and was such that Aphrodite would not have been ashamed to acknowledge him as her son. At the foot of the bed lay his bow, quiver, and arrows, the kindly weapons of that great god.As Psyche trained her gaze insatiably and with no little curiosity on these her husband's weapons, in the course of handling and admiring them she drew out an arrow from the quiver, and tested its point on the tip of her thumb. But because her arm was still trembling she pressed too hard, with the result that it pricked too deeply, and tiny drops of rose-red blood bedewed the surface of the skin. So all unknowing and without prompting Psyche fell in love with Eros, being fired more and more with desire for the god of desire. She gazed down on him in distraction, and as she passionately smothered him with wanton kisses from parted lips, she feared that he might stir in his sleep. But while her wounded heart pounded on being roused by such striking beauty, the lamp disgorged a drop of burning oil from the tip of its flame upon the god's right shoulder. It could have been nefarious treachery, or malicious jealousy, or the desire, so to say, to touch and kiss that glorious body. O you rash, reckless lamp, Love's worthless servant, do you burn the very god who possesses all fire, though doubtless you were invented by some lover to ensure that he might possess for longer and even at night the object of his desire? The god started up on being burnt. He saw that he was exposed, and that his trust was defiled. Without a word he at once flew away from the kisses and embrace of his most unhappy wife.

But Psyche seized his right leg with both hands just as he rose above her. She made a pitiable appendage as he soured aloft, following in his wake and dangling in company with him as they flew through the clouds. But finally she slipped down to earth exhausted. As she lay there on the ground, her divine lover did not leave her, but flew to the nearest cypress-tree, and from its summit spoke in considerable indignation to her."Poor, ingenuous Psyche, I disregarded my mother Aphrodite' instructions when she commanded that you be yoked in passionate desire to the meanest of men, and that you be then subjected to the most degrading of marriages. Instead, I preferred to swoop down to become your lover. I admit that my behavior was not judicious, I, the famed archer, wounded myself with my own weapon, and made you my wife and all so that you should regard me as a wild beast, and cut off my head with the steel, and with it the eyes that dote on you! I urged you repeatedly, I warned you devotedly always to be on your guard against what has now happened. But before long those fine counsellors of yours will make satisfaction to me for their heinous instructions, whereas for you the punishment will be merely my departure."As he finished speaking, he soared aloft on his wings. From her prostrate position on the ground Psychewatched her husband's flight as far as her eyes allowed, and she tortured her heart with the bitterest lamentations. But once the sculling of his wings had removed him from her sight and he had disappeared into the distance, she hurled herself headlong down from the bank of a river close by. But that kindly stream was doubtless keen to pay homage to the god who often scorches even the waters, and in fear for his person he at once cast her ashore on his current without injuring her, and set her on its grassy bank. The rustic god Pan chanced to be sitting at that moment on the brow of the stream, holding the mountain deity Echo in his arms, and teaching her to repeat after him all kinds of songs. Close by the bank nanny-goats were sporting as they grazed and cropped the river-foliage here and there. The goat-shaped god was well aware of the calamity that had befallen Psyche. He called her gently to him, lovesick and weary as she was, and soothed her with these consoling words.

Pan and Echo

"You are an elegant girl, and I am a rustic herdsman, but my advanced years give me the benefit of considerable experience. If my hazard is correct--sages actually call such guesswork divine insight--I infer from your stumbling and frequently wandering steps, from your excessively pale complexion and continual sighs, and not least from your mournful gaze, that you are suffering grievous love-pains. On that account you must hearken to me, do not seek gain to destroy yourself by throwing yourself headlong or by seeking any other means of death. Cease your sorrowing, lay aside your sadness, and instead direct prayers of adoration to Eros, greatest of gods, and by your caressing attentions win the favor of that wanton and extravagant youth."Psyche made no reply to this advice from the shepherd-god. She merely paid reverential homage to his divine person, and proceeded on her way. After wandering with weary steps for a considerable distance, as night bell a certain path led her all unknowing to the city where the husband of one of her sisters had his realm. Psyche recognized it, and asked that her arrival be announced to her sister. She was then ushered in, and after they had greeted and embraced each other, her sister inquired why she had come.Psyche began to explain. "You recall that plan of yours, by which you both persuaded me to take a two-edged razor and slay the beast who used to lie with me falsely claiming to be my husband, with the intention of later devouring my poor self with his greedy maw? I fell in with your proposal, but when the lamp which conspired with me allowed me to gaze on his face, the vision I beheld was astonishing and utterly divine, it was the son of the goddess Aphrodite, I mean Eros himself, who lay peacefully sleeping there. I exulted at the sight of such beauty, and was confused by the sense of overwhelming delight, and as I experienced frustration at being unable to enjoy relations with him, the lamp by dreadful mischance shed a drop of burning oil on his shoulder. At once the pain caused him to start from his sleep, and when he saw me wielding the steel and the flame, he said: 'This is a dreadful deed you have done. Leave my bed this instant, and take your goods and chattels with you. I shall now take your sister'--at this point he cited your name specifically--'in solemn marriage.' At once he then ordained Zephyrus to waft me outside the bounds of his estate."Psyche had not yet finished speaking when her sister, goaded by mad lust and destructive envy, swung into action. She devised a lying excuse to deceive her husband, pretending that she had learnt of her parents' death, she at once boarded ship, and then made hot-foot for the rock. Although the wrong wind was blowing, her eagerness was fired by blind hope, and she said: "Take me, Eros, as your worthy wife. Zephyrus, take your mistress aboard!"She then took a prodigious leap downward. But not even in death could she reach that abode for her limbs bounced on the rocky crags, and were fragmented. Her insides were torn out, and in her fitting death she offered a ready meal to birds and beasts. The second punitive vengeance was not long delayed. Psyche resumed her wandering, and reached a second city where her other sister similarly dwelt. She too was taken in by her sister’s deception, and in her eagerness to supplant Psyche in the marriage which they had befouled, she hastened to the rock, and fell to her deadly doom in the same way.While Psyche was at this time visiting one community after another in her concentrated search for Eros, he was lying groaning in his mother’s chamber, racked by the pain of the wound from the lamp. But then the tern, the white bird which wings her way over the sea-waves, plunged swiftly into the deep bosom of ocean. She came upon Aphrodite conveniently there as the goddess bathed and swam. She perched beside her, and told her that her son had suffered burning, and was lying in considerable pain from the wound, with his life in danger. As a result the entire household of Aphrodite was in bad odour, the object of gossip and rebuke on the lips of people everywhere. They were claiming that Eros was relaxing with a leady of easy virtue in the mountains, and that Aphrodite herself was idly swimming in the ocean, with the result that pleasure and favor and elegance had departed from the world, all was unkempt, rustic, uncouth. There were no weddings, no camaraderie between friends, none of the love which children inspire, all was a scene of boundless squalor, of unsavory tedium in sordid alliances. Such was the gossip which that garrulous and prying bird whispered in Aphrodite’ ear, tearing her son’s reputation to shreds.Aphrodite was absolutely livid. She burst out: "So not that fine son of mine has a girl-friend, has he? Come on, then tell me her name, since you are the only one who serves me with affection. Who is it who has tempted my innocent, beardless boy? Is it one of that crowd of Nymph, or one of the Horae (Seasons), or one of the band of Muses, or one of my servant Graces?" The garrulous bird did not withhold a reply. She said: "I do not know, mistress. I think the story goes that he is head over heels in love with a girl by the name of Psyche, if my memory serves me rightly."Then Aphrodite in a rage bawled out at the top of her voice: "Can it really be true that he is in love with that Psyche who lays claim to my beauty and pretends to my name? That son of mine must surely have regarded me as a procuress, when I pointed the girl out to him so that he could win her acquaintance."As she grumbled she made haste to quit the sea, and at once made for her golden chamber. There she found her son lying ill as she had heard, and from the doorway she bellowed out as loudly as she could: "This is a fine state of affairs, just what one would expect from a child of mine, from a decent man like you! First of all you trampled underfoot the instructions of your mother--or I should say your employer--and you refused to humble my personal enemy with a vile love-liaison, and then, mark you, a mere boy of tender years, you hugged her close in your wanton, stunted embraces! You wanted me to have to cope with my enemy as a daughter-in-law! You take too much for granted, you good-for-nothing, loathsome seducer! You think of yourself as my only noble heir, and you imagine that I'm now too old to bear another. Just realize that I'll get another son, one far better than you. In fact I'll rub your nose in it further. I'll adopt one of my young slaves, and make him a present of these wings and torches of yours, the bow and arrows, and all the rest of my paraphernalia which I did not entrust to you to be misused like this. None of the cost of kitting you out came from your father's estate.""Ever sine you were a baby you have been badly brought up, too ready with your hands. You show no respect to your elders, pounding them time after time. Even me your own mother you strip naked every day, and many's the time you've cuffed me. You show me total contempt as though I were a widow, and you haven't an ounce of fear for your stepfather, the bravest and greatest of warriors. And why should you? You are in the habit of supplying him with girls, to cause me the pain of having to compete with rivals. But now I'll make you sorry for this sport of yours. I'll ensure that you find your marriage sour and bitter. But what am I to do, now that I'm becoming a laughing-stock? Where shall I go, how shall I curb in this scoundrel? Should I beg the assistance of my enemy Sobrietate (Sobriety, Temperance), so often alienated from me through this fellow's loose living? The prospect of having to talk with that unsophisticated, hideous female gives me the creeps. Still I must not despise the consolation of gaining revenge from any quarter. She is absolutely the only one to be given the job of imposing the harshest discipline on this rascal. She must empty his quiver, immobilize his arrows, unstring his bow, extinguish his torch, and retrain his person with sharper correction. Only when she has sheared off his locks--how often I have brushed them shining like gold with my own hands!--and clipped those wings, which I have steeped in my own breast's liquid nectar, shall I regard the insult dealt to me as expiated."These were her words. Then she bustled out, glowering and incensed with passionate rage. At that moment Demeter and Hera came up with her. When they observed her resentful face, they asked her why she was cloaking the rich charm of her radiant eyes with a sullen frown. "You have come," she answered, "at a timely moment to fulfill my wishes, for I am seething inside. I ask you to search with might and main for that fickle runaway of mine called Psyche. I'm sure that the scandalous gossip concerning my household, and the behavior of that unspeakable son of mine, have not passed you by." They knew quite well what had happened, and they south to assuage Aphrodite' raging temper. "My lady, how is it that your son's peccadillo has caused you to war on his pleasures in this unrelenting way, and also to desire to destroy the girl that he loves? What harm is there, we should like to know, in his giving the glad eye to a nicely turned-out girl? Don't you realize that he is in the prime of manhood, or are you forgetting his age? Just because he carries his years well, does he strike you as a perpetual boy? You are a mother and a sensible one at that. Are you always going to pry nosily into your son's diversions, and condemn his wanton ways, censure his love-life, and vilify your own skills and pleasures as practiced by your handsome son? What god or what person on earth will bear with your scattering sensual pleasures throughout the world, when you sourly refuse to allow love-liaisons in your own house, and you close down the manufacture of women's weaknesses which is made available to all?"This was how the two goddesses sucked up to Eros, seeking to win his favor, though he was absent, by taking his part, for they feared his arrows. But Aphrodite was affronted that the insults which she sustained were treated so lightly. She cut the tow of them short, turned on her heel, and stalked quickly off to the sea.Meanwhile Psyche in her random wanderings was suffering torment, as she sought day and night to trace her husband. She was restless in mind, but all the more eager, in spite of his anger, to soften him with a wife's endearments, or at any rate to appease him with a servant's entreaties. She spied a temple perched on the peak of a high mountain, and she said: "Perhaps this is where my lord dwells?" She made her way quickly there, and though her feet were utterly weary from her unremitting labors, her hope and aspiration quickened them. She mounted the higher ridges with stout heart, and drew close to the sacred shrine. There she saw ears of wheat in a heap, and others woven into a garland, and ears of barley as well. There were sickles lying there, and a whole array of harvesting implements, but they were in a jumbled and neglected heap, thrown carelessly by workmen's hands, as happens in summer-time. Psyche carefully sorted them out and ordered them in separate piles, no doubt she reflected that she should not neglect the shrines and rites of any deity, but rather implore the kindly spirit of each and all.Kindly Demeter sighted her as she carefully and diligently ordered these offerings, and at once she cried out from afar: "Why, you poor Psyche! Aphrodite is in a rage, mounting a feverish search for your traces all over the globe. She has marked you down for the sternest punishment, and is using all the resources of her divinity to demand vengeance. And here you are, looking to my interests, with your mind intent on anything but your own safety!"Then Psyche grovelled at the goddess's feet, and watered them with a stream of tears. She swept the ground with her hair, and begged Demeter's favor with a litany of prayers. "By your fruitful right hand, by the harvest ceremonies which assure plenty, by the silent mysteries of your baskets and the winged courses of your attendant Dracones, by the furrows in your Sicilian soil, by Persephone's descent to a light-less marriage, and by your daughter's return to rediscovered light (see Abduction of Persephone), and by all else which the shrine of Attic Eleusis shrouds in silence--I beg you, lend aid to this soul of Psychewhich is deserving of pity, and now entreats you. Allow me to lurk hidden here among these heaps of grain if only for a few days, until the great goddess's raging fury softens with the passage of time, or at any rate till my strength, which is now exhausted by protracted toil, is assuaged by a period of rest."

Demeter and Psyche

Demeter answered her: "Your tearful entreaties certainly affect me and I am keen to help you, but I cannot incur Aphrodite's displeasure, for I maintain long-standing ties of friendship with her--and besides being my relative, she is also a fine woman. So you must quit this dwelling at once, and count it a blessing that I have not apprehended and imprisoned you."So Psyche, in suffering this reverse to her hopes, was now beset by a double grief. As she retraced her steps, she noticed in a glimmering grove in the valley below an elegantly built shrine. Not wishing to disregard any means, however uncertain, which gave promise of brighter hope, and in her eagerness to seek the favor of any divinity whatsoever, she drew close to its sacred portals. There she observed valuable offerings, and ribbons inscribed with gold letters pinned to the branches of trees and to the doorposts. These attested the name of the goddess to whom they were dedicated, together with thanks for favors received. She sank to her knees, and with her hands she grasped the altar still warm from a sacrifice. She wiped away her tears, and then uttered this prayer [to Hera]: "Sister and spouse of mighty Zeus, whether you reside in your ancient shrine at Samos, which alone can pride itself on your birth, your infant cries, and your nurture, or whether you occupy your blessed abode in lofty Carthage, which worships you as the maiden who tours the sky on a lion's back, or whether you guard the famed walls of the Argives, by the banks of the river-god Inachus, who now hymns you as bride of the Thunderer and as queen of all goddesses; you, whom all the East reveres as the yoking goddess, and whom all the West addresses as Lucina (goddess of childbirth), be for me in my most acute misfortunes Hera Sospita (the Saviour), and free me from looming dangers in my weariness from exhausting toils. I am told that it is your practice to lend unsolicited aid to pregnant women in danger."

Hera and Psyche

As she prayed like this, Hera at once appeared before her in all the venerable majesty of her divinity. There and then the goddess said: "Believe me, I only wish that I could crown your prayers with my consent. But shame prevents me from opposing the will of Aphrodite, my daughter-in-law whom I have always loved as my own daughter. There is a second obstacle--the legislation which forbids sanctuary for runaway slaves belonging to others, if their owners forbid it."Psyche was aghast at this second shipwreck devised by Fortune. Unable to meet up with her elusive husband, she abandoned all hope of salvation, and had recourse to her own counsel. "What other assistance can I seek or harness to meet my desperate plight? Even the goodwill of goddesses however well-disposed has been of no avail to me. Now that I am trapped in a noose as tight as this, where can I make for, under what roof or in what dark corner can I hide, to escape the unwinking eyes of mighty Aphrodite? Why don't you show a manly spirit, and the strength to renounce idle hope? Why don't you surrender yourself voluntarily to your mistress, and soften her savage onslaught by showing a humble demeanor, however late in the day? You never know, you may find the object of your long search in her house."This was how she steeled herself for the uncertain outcome of showing obedience or rather for her certain destruction, as she mentally rehearsed the opening lines of the plea she was to utter.Aphroditenow despaired of a successful search for her by earthly means, and she made for heaven. She ordered her carriage to be prepared, Hephaestus had lovingly applied the finishing touches to it with elaborate workmanship, and had given it to her as a wedding-present before her initiation into marriage. The thinning motion of his file had made the metal gleam, the coach's value was measured by the gold it had lost. Four white doves emerged from the large herd stabled close to their mistress's chamber. As they strutted gaily forward, turning their dappled necks from side to side. They submitted to the jeweled yoke. They took their mistress aboard and delightedly mounted upwards. Sparrows sported with the combined din of their chatter as they escorted the carriage of the goddess, and the other birds, habitually sweet songsters, announced the goddess's approach with the pleasurable sound of their honeyed tunes. The clouds parted, and Uranus (Heaven) admitted his daughter, the topmost region delightedly welcomed the goddess, and the tuneful retinue of mighty Aphrodite had no fear of encounter with eagles or of plundering hawks.She at once made for the royal citadel of Zeus, and in arrogant tones sought the urgent use of the services of the spokesman-god Hermes. Zeus's lowering brow did not refuse her. Aphrodite happily quitted heaven at once with Hermes accompanying her, and she spoke seriously to him: "My brother from Arcaida, you surely know that your sister Aphrodite has never had any success without Hermes's attendance, and you are well aware for how long I have been unable to trace my maid who lies in hiding. So I have no recourse other than that you as herald make a public proclamation of a reward for tracking her down. So you must hasten to do my bidding, and clearly indicate the marks by which she can be recognized, so that if someone is charged with unlawfully concealing her, he cannot defend himself on the plea of ignorance."With these words she handed him a sheet containing Psyche's name and other details. Then she at once retired home.Hermesdid not fail to obey her. He sped here and there, appearing before gatherings of every community, and as instructed performed the duty of making proclamation: "If anyone can retrieve from her flight the runaway daughter of the king, the maidservant of Aphrodite called Psyche, or indicate her hidden whereabouts, he should meet the herald Hermes behind the metae Muriae. Whoever does so will obtain as reward from Aphrodite herself seven sweet kisses, and a particularly honeyed one imparted with the thrust of her caressing tongue."